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By Erik, August 20, 2013
CombatACE is looking for some journalism staff that enjoy doing small write ups, reviews of products, and interviews with community members. Finding someone for the key roll of editor in chief is a critical component to our future. If you are interested in performing this very important role and have time on your hands I'd like to discuss a future with you. Please PM me directly and let's find a place to showcase your talents. All interested will be considered.    
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Flight Replicas Curtiss P-40N Warhawk / KittyHawk IV Complete Now Available


By Dave, August 19, 2013
Are you ready to fly one of the most historic and famous Allied fighters of WWII? Ready to explore the performance boundaries and dangers of training? Ready for some low-level dog fighting, fighter-bomber missions, long-range ferry missions, ground strafing? And ready to fly these missions in any climate on Earth, in any season? Then these aircraft are for you. Outstanding as a close ground support aircraft, the P-40 somehow gained a post-war reputation as a mediocre design as an air superiority fighter. Modern research has shown that the P-40 in reality performed surprisingly well in this regard, too, taking a very heavy toll of enemy aircraft, including when flown against the lightweight and maneuverable Japanese fighters like the Oscar and Zero.   Later versions, such as the N version of this package, were the most capable. Climb performance was still below average, and performance above 15,000 feet lagged behind many other fighters, but manouverability at mid to low level was truly excellent, dive acceleration was good and dive speed was excellent. The highest-scoring P-40 ace, Clive Caldwell (RAAF), who claimed 22 of his 28½ kills in the type, said that the P-40 had "almost no vices."   The P-40 tolerated harsh conditions in the widest possible variety of climates, from the heat and humidity of the Pacific to the dust and sand of the North African deserts to the Arctic conditions of Alaska and Russia. It was a semi-modular design and thus easy to overhaul and repair, including in the field. Although it lacked many of the aircraft innovations of the later War fighters, it made up for this with a strong structure including a five-spar wing, which enabled P-40s to even go so far as to survive several midair collisions (some intentional). Caldwell said P-40s "would take a tremendous amount of punishment, violent aerobatics as well as enemy action." Operational range was good by early war standards, and was almost double that of the Supermarine Spitfire or Messerschmitt Bf 109, although this was quickly overtaken my newer aircraft types.   The P-40 offered the additional advantage of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground-attack aircraft and a trainer long after it was obsolete as a fighter. More N's were built than any other P-40 variant, some 5,215 in all. The last rolled off of the production line in Buffalo, NY, on November 30, 1944. As of 2013, it was reported that some 72 P-40's were still in existence (25 of those being N models), with 31 of those (10 N) being airworthy.   This package contains 12 models, with 3 different VC's: Standard P-40N late model (the most produced version) Fighter Bomber, with 250 lb and 500 lb bombs. Long Range Ferry (or escort), with three 50 gal. drop tanks Bare metal versions (some with paint stripped in the field) Bare metal fresh from the factory Mid-production aircraft bare metal aircraft Bendix-equipped for radio navigation Early lightweight 4-gun, with classic early 'birdcage' canopy Later lightweight 4-gun, with standard N model canopy Later lightweight 6-gun, with standard N model canopy Unarmed but otherwise complete, training model Stripped and unarmed, very lightweight training model A few of the features: Highly refined flight dynamics: can and must be flown 'by the book'; Airspeed effects flight control effectiveness; Realistic inertial starter sequence on aircraft with on-board starter (late versions); Working weapons system, including accurate rate of fire and number of rounds; Accurate orange tracer rounds; Working collimated gunsight; Working recognition light system; Bendix on-board navigation system; Twelve different models; Twenty two different researched paint schemes; Accurate and challenging ground-handling characteristics; Photo luminescent gauges; Spotlight cockpit lighting; Individual gauge lighting where applicable; Droppable drop tanks, that removes weight and fuel from the aircraft.cfg for realistic performance change; Droppable bombs, 250 lb and 500 lb, that remove weight from the aircraft.cfg for realistic performance change; Can select either fuselage or wing hard points for drops; Fully selectable fuel system; Accurate engine performance; Working oxygen breather gauge; Canopy can be jettisoned; Working emergency gear extension; 32 page Manual; Paint kit and Manual included, in the main aircraft folder.   Price is $42.95  
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DCS World 16 Aug 2013 News Update


By Dave, August 17, 2013
The past week, most of the team has been occupied with:

1- FC3 bugs
2- Supporting UH-1H and Mi-8MTV2
3- Various system changes that span multiple modules
4- Rendering engine
5- Steam and Gamefly launch

A new update was released today (1.2.5.16508.227), but the only change is that it provides compatibility with the release of DCS World and modules on Gamefly.

In the near future we will be building the first 1.2.6 branch. For those that care to take part, this will be available as open beta in the near future. Later, 1.2.6 will feature the Mi-8MTV2 beta.

New Work in Progress video of wingtip vortices and engine smoke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsILOlhheTM

New A-10A: DCS Flaming Cliffs / Flaming Cliffs 3 video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v8GBbNN_Mk
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UPS Plane Crash in Birmingham Alabama


By Erik, August 15, 2013
  NTSB: No Engine Failure in Fatal UPS Plane Crash   Reported this afternoon by the examiners who recovered the flight recorders from the fatal crash of the Airbus A-300 Cargo Jet that landed short of the runway in Birmingham Alabama that no engine failures were reported at the time of the crash. Other indications reported that everything was reporting normally. With the recent crash of the Asiana flight into San Francisco it leaves one to wonder at what point does a pilot stop flying the aircraft. Is it possible the automated landing systems are being too heavily relied on to accomplish the most critical of flight conditions? The auto throttle and vertical glide slope might appear to be another culprit in this most recent fatal crash. Landing at the alternative runway due to closure of the primary runway leads to the obvious. Were they flying the correct instrument approach. Did they fly through the vertical glide slope or was it even active/available for the shorter runway at Birmingham? Only the facts will tell and right on the heels of the Asiana flight it appears not an hour too soon. I firmly believe Captain Sullivan was successful in conducting a water landing after the bird strikes in New York because he flew the aircraft to the ground. Never stop flying the aircraft, once you do it's already too late it's ahead of you. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the those families who are affected.
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DCS World 09 Aug 2013 News Update


By Dave, August 9, 2013
9 August 2013 - DCS News Update

Steam News
This past week was a very significant step for the DCS series by offering DCS World and its modules (also known as DLC) on Steam. This has proved a great success and we see this as a very important outlet and expansion for the series. Other titles coming to DCS on Steam soon include: A-10A: DCS Flaming Cliffs (16 August 2013) DCS: UH-1H Huey We are also working with Steam to improve our presence there by: allowing activation of DCS Steam products from key purchase sources other than Steam; enabling Overlay, play time tracking, and achievements; and we hope to take advantage of Steam Workshop for items such as missions and campaigns.

DCS 1.2.5
The team is now focused on completing a final update for DCS version 1.2.5. Once this version is released, we will move on to version 1.2.6 which will center on the release of the Mi-8MTv2 beta. 

New Su-25T Cockpit
Work is underway on a new cockpit for the Su-25T that will be of the same standards as the newly updated Flaming Cliffs 3 cockpits, that includes six degrees of freedom (6 DOF) head movement. Once this is complete, we plan on creating updated Su-25T training videos. The attached images are very early Work in Progress (WiP) of the new cockpit in construction.

New Effects
New effect development continues. Today I can share that we are working on engine smoke. Depending on the throttle setting, engine smoke will vary, and each aircraft can have a custom level of smokiness. The attached image is early a WiP.  
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DCS World 02 Aug 2013 News Update


By Dave, August 2, 2013
DCS 1.2.5 Update 2 Available

The second update to DCS 1.2.5 is now ready for download through the auto-updater. Here is the change log:

A-10A: DCS Flaming Cliffs Fixes:
- Fixed trim system.
- Fixed landing lights.
- Fixed navigation lights.
- Fixed damage model.
- Fixed slip ball.
- Fixed autopilot (you may need to delete your input file to reset)

Added A-10A manual.
Added Su-25 manual.
Added new DCS World User Manual that includes chapters for Resource Manager and Module Manager.
Corrected radio channel errors.
Added A-10A and Su-25 mission translations.
Fixed Group Dead condition.
Fixed Part of Group in Zone and All of Group in Zone for clients.
Fixed Lua expression renamed to Lua predicate, and the trigger.
Corrected unrealistic Su-25T wingman behavior.
Corrected images in the Encyclopedia.
French localization for DCS: A-10C Warthog now available.


DCS Open Beta Testing

As DCS World ever increases in complexity and scope, along with a continued expansion of new modules, the testing task has reached the point where we cannot expect our internal and external test teams to catch all the problems in a reasonable amount of time. As such, starting with DCS 1.2.6 we will first be releasing new DCS versions as open beta. Our team and the external testers will be closely monitoring reports and entering valid bugs into our bug tracking database. We will ask reports only be submitted for new problems that did not exist in the prior version. We sincerely hope this will improve the quality of the final version.


DCS World on Steam

Later today, DCS World and our current modules will be available on Steam with a 10% discount. These include: DCS: A-10C Warthog DCS: Black Shark 2 DCS: Combined Arms DCS: P-51D Mustang Su-25: DCS Flaming Cliffs We plan to release A-10A: DCS Flaming Cliffs for Steam on 16 August 2013.

The Steam version of DCS World is unique in that all DLC purchases through it will direct users to the Steam store. As such, the updates for Steam products works a bit different. We have set up 'semi-automatic' updating for the Steam version - the updates themselves will be delivered by the Steam.

We do not believe it is possible to move DCS products purchased outside of Steam into Steam.


New Weapon Models

Today we have images of two new weapon models for DCS World. The GBU-31(V)3/B and an updated UPK-23 gun pod.  
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